1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a tube dispensing magazine readily reconfigured to accept different sized diameter tubes and a method for packaging flowable products.
2. The Related Art
Tube dispensing magazines are found at upstream locations in tube filling production lines. Empty cylindrical tubes capped at one end and open on an opposite end are placed in the magazine awaiting individual downstream transfer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,563 discloses cylindrical piece parts which descend under their own weight down an incline surface of a supply hopper to a discharge opening. To prevent clogging of the opening, a sweeper blade is cyclically passed over the opening to break up piece part accumulation at that opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,135 discloses an apparatus for dispensing a preselected number of generally cylindrical articles such as pens or pencils through a hopper having two facing vertical walls and two facing walls that converge downwardly. Lower edges of the walls form an opening at the bottom for the hopper such that only one article at a time can pass through the opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,229 reports a process and machine for packaging individual drinking straws. The machine includes a hopper with a hinged front wall flanked by two side walls and held by a connecting rod. A bottom of the hopper features a thin platform with a raised front edge exhibiting an alternating longitudinal motion which pushes straws out of the hopper and ensures formation of a tight and compact line of straws.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,633 describes a machine for insertion of elongated cylindrical objects such as pens into a rapidly moving stream of envelopes. A supply hopper for the objects includes a trough feeding the objects to a delivery station and a horizontally reciprocating assembly which takes one object at a time from the trough and feeds into an open envelope.
Often a filling line must service production of many different sized packaged products. Changeover from one size of tube to another must be rapid to avoid production delays. Traditional tube dispensing magazines utilize a constriction passageway funneling a multi rowed array of tubes into a single line. Walls of the passageway can be adjusted but only at the expense of stopping the filling process. The mechanism for wall adjustment is tied to other process equipment within the line. Changeover to a different diameter tube requires relative adjustment to every adjacent mechanism. The switch is time consuming and often inaccurate.
The present invention overcomes the problem of long delay in package changeover from filling one size tubing to a different sized one. Production is thereby rendered more efficient.